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My husband is a retired butcher and I am certified in Culinary Arts. Marinades are expensive. Try soaking your beef steak or roast in Cola or Dr. Thunder from Walmart. Cover for 24 hrs. Then season and cook.

Unbelievably tender!

Source: My husband the butcher picked it up in the meat industry many years ago.

This is super easy. A friend told me that if you marinate your poultry/pork/beef etc in ginger ale, not only will you have a tasty result but it also tenderizes even the most tough bargain cuts of meat.

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Use regular ginger ale (not diet). Place the meat (beef/chicken/pork) in a bowl, cover it with the ginger ale or diluted (half water/half gingerale) and marinate for at least 8 hours. Overnight works the best. You can add salt in if you want.

Drain the meat and cook as you regularly would, with your favorite seasonings or BBQ sauce.

Just cook as you regularly would (frying, broiling, crockpot, BBQ, steaming, roasting, sauteing). It tenderizes the toughest bargain meats, creates a fresh and tasty flavor that does accentuates your regular seasonings. It does not impart a "sweet taste", just a tender flavorful result.

I get tons of compliments whenever I marinate the meat before cooking, whereas I was just a mediocre cook before. I can really tell the difference, the marinated meat is fork-tender and tastes great. Non-marinated meat tends to stay sort of tough and chewy, especially the bargain cuts.

I am on a cilantro kick this summer and just tried this. I love it as a marinade for grilling kabobs, but it doesn't need to be used only for kabobs! This is enough marinade for about 1 1/2 pounds of shrimp or skinless chicken any way you choose to grill it. You can substitute cayenne or crushed red pepper for the paprika if you like more heat ;-)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup lime juice

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

2 tsp. ground paprika

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients together in a glass bowl and proceed with the marinating process.

My Papa (Grampa) came here from Niceon, Greece. Lots of foods he taught my Grama to cook had a citrus flavor. I can't afford lamb like they used but this marinade is also excellent with beef, fish, poultry or shrimp.

I haven't bought any stir-fry or marinades for ages and don't intend to... as I am trying to cook from sratch as much as possible but the only one I have that I can make from scratch is a soy/garlic/sweet stir-fry sauce which I double as a marinade. To be honest, I'm rather tired of using the same one each time I cook marinated steak or stir-fries.

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When I see Teriaki sauce and stir fry sauces at the supermarket I often wonder if I could duplicate them at home... but the ingredients are often quite obscure as some of them use artificial flavouring to achieve the taste.

I would appreciate any tried and true recipes any of you may have to achieve these sauces... Please don't use brand names of ingredients as I live in Australia and while we can get these ingredients, it helps if you say what the ingredient is rather than the brand name.

Cheers Bev in Perth

Answers

By Margie Minard (Guest Post)

July 13, 20050 found this helpful

Have you ever tried a dry rub on roast chicken or beef??? Just rub the meat with olive oil and then a mixture of equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar and broil over a grill. I can't tell you how wonderful that is!! Also, lemon or lime juice, garlic and parmesan cheese is very good on chicken. Don't use acids too long on chicken before cooking or it will go to mush. I found out the hard way. I wouldn't marinade poultry in acids (sours) any longer than a half an hour before cooking.

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Beef or pork can marinade a bit longer. Try any salad dressings...they can be very flavorful. Ranch dressing, mixed or dry powder is good on meat and especially in potatoes and in rice!!!! The easiest way to marinade that I've found is to seal the meat and marinade in a zip lock bag. When you are finished, throw away all of the nasty blood and bacteria with the bag. Good luck and God bless.

Mix all together.I have used this on beef, chicken, pork and shrimp.On all but shrimp marinade in refrigerator over-night.Shrimp should only be a few hours. I have cooked theseon the outdoor grill and also on the George Foreman grill.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Makes enough for 1-1&frac; lbs. of meat. Marinate meats for 2-4 hours. Can be used to marinade pork, chicken, lamb, or beef for grilling. Long cooking meats should be cooked on indirect heat so that honey doesn't burn. Makes about 1/3 cup marinade.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container. When you are ready to use this marinade, bring it up to room temperature to allow the olive oil to liquefy. Thoroughly coat your meat or vegetable and allow to soak for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator before grilling.

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a shallow dish. Mix well. Add chicken, turning to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours. Remove chicken from marinade. Place the marinade in a small saucepan and heat to a boil, then cool. Place the chicken on the grill over medium-hot coals until chicken is done, and juices run clear. Turn and baste frequently with reserved marinade. Serves 4.

Try a dry rub. Rub roast meat with oil. Mix ground oregano and paprika and garlic salt. Rub on top of oil. I use cooking wine to bake it in. Drench it with the wine after rub. It smells like lasagna but its best beef or pork ever. The amounts of spices is up to you. I use more garlic salt then the other two. Experiment with it.

Take a cheapo beer(amount depends on amount of meat) Pop the top and let it sit in the fridge over night.Get some steak rub, garlic powder, black pepper, XX virgin olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt, dash of cinnamon. Mix in bowl. Heat up oil/spices before introducing to meat(microwave is just fine)

Once beer is flat, poor in bag with meat. Add oil/spices. Let sit for close to 12 hours or so. Squeezing and shaking bag every now and then.

Grill... Enjoy.More of a "throw together" for a cook out. But I always get lots of compliments.

For even more flavor. I usually do 2-4lbs steaks, so yes, you'll almost have grill marks yourself by the time you are finished cooking. I go medium rare, slow cook the entire time. Once cook to desired temp, throw some(very little) lemon squirts on it. Serve, enjoy!